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down. “I’m a sophomore, but this is my first year at Waverly, too.”
    “A fellow newbie.” Dean Dresden laughed, sliding into his chair. “Well, tell me, Jenny Humphrey, what can I do for you today?”
    Jenny sank into the chair opposite the desk. “I wanted to ask if it would be possible for me to do an independent project this Jan Plan.”
    For the first time since she walked in, the smile left the dean’s lips, even though his eyes kept smiling. “May I ask why? It’s your first Jan Plan, after all. The administration designed the program so that students would learn to work together in teams.”
    “I realize that.” Jenny gave him what she hoped was a winning smile, even though her dad called it her Little Orphan Annie smile. “But it’s about exploring something you’re passionate about, too, right?”
    The dean nodded thoughtfully. “I suppose that’s part of it as well.”
    “Well, throughout the fall semester, my art classes played an important part in keeping me grounded.” Jenny paused. She knew she sounded like a suck-up. She tried again. “I just feel like I had so much to absorb that it would be really great for me to try and process all that information right now. I had two art classes with Mrs. Silver—portraiture and advanced figure drawing. And they were great. But I started to think about what it would be like to draw people in motion… almost as if I were a camera whose shutter was kept open while it was taking a picture.”
    “I have to admit—I’m impressed that you even know how a manual camera works,” the dean laughed.
    Jenny took the laughter as a good sign and leaned forward in her chair. “I want to try to imagine slowing down the movements and capturing them at each moment. I’d love to study people in all kinds of situations—just walking, or dancing, or maybe skiing. And I just think this is the sort of project I’d have to work on independently.”
    The dean nodded and frowned simultaneously, and Jenny’s heart sank. “I can see your point, but unfortunately you’re a sophomore. And rules are rules. Maybe next year you can work on this.”
    Jenny, who’d felt so comfortable at the start of this meeting, could feel her lip tremble. She was always nervous around authority figures—and right now it took a lot of willpower to keep a tear from trickling down her face.
    “Hey, Dad.”
    Both Jenny and the dean whirled their heads toward the open door. “Oh, sorry.” Standing in the door frame was the handsome dark-haired boy who’d sat onstage at the chapel meeting. He wore a thick navy blue sweater and a pair of khakis with frayed hems. He looked like a perfect prep-school boy—with a possibly devilish gleam in his eyes. “I didn’t realize you were in a meeting. Mom told me you forgot your BlackBerry.”
    The boy’s piercing green eyes focused on Jenny, making her feel an entirely different kind of nervous. Had he barged in… on purpose? Jenny shifted in her seat, grateful that she had taken the time to twist her hair into two loose, arty braids. She blew an escaped curl out of her eyes.
    The dean patted the front pocket of his shirt absentmindedly. “Jenny Humphrey, this is my son, Isaac. Jenny was just pitching me a Jan Plan project.”
    Isaac came forward and handed his dad the BlackBerry, then sat on the corner of the desk, as if he were in no hurry to leave. “Really?” His eyes flicked to his father. “Can I hear about it?”
    The dean gestured toward Jenny to go ahead. Her stomach flip-flopped. It was nerve-racking enough to try and explain her idea to the dean—now she had to do it in front of his gorgeous son, too? After taking a deep breath, she explained her project once again, trying to keep her cheeks from blushing.
    “That sounds awesome,” Isaac said when she was done. “Good luck with that.”
    Dean Dresden shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Unfortunately, it will have to wait until next year, as Jenny is a sophomore.”
    Isaac